When I saw John McCain’s latest television attack ad today I had thought CNN was playing an April Fools joke or the more frightening (and true!) justification: the McCain campaign has lost all semblance of sanity. After having to apologize and retract the ad accusing Obama of “going to a gym” instead of visiting troops (the gym in question was a military exercise facility,) John McCain has now compared presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, of being too much like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. You really can’t make this stuff up!
I’m not sure which side wins with this ad. Obama looks like an exciting candidate, they concede he is an amazing celebrity, hundreds of thousands of people are cheering his name, and they actually found attractive pictures of Britney and Paris. A few questions come to mind: what’s wrong with a present who is a celebrity as well? Who talks about Britney and Paris anymore? Wasn’t that 2005? Can the campaign even be taken seriously any more? This was the “maverick” that demanded they candidates run a clean campaign and has actually received little to no personal attacks from Obama. Is he already starting to run on fumes? Will he even make it to the November election without conservatives pulling him out of the race?
Also today, Fox news committed their second “editing mistake” on air regarding the swap of Barack Obama’s and Osama Bin Laden’s names. While showing a recorded Bin Laden tape on air, the Fox News caption read ‘Obama’ instead of ‘Osama.’ This is the second time the “news organization” mistakenly (subliminally?) switched the two names. Are cable news companies held to any standards? Do the have to be accredited?
I’m sure most conservatives have good points and ideas worth at least listening to. But if they’re represented by nothing more than McCain’s way of playing “politics” and Fox News’s “journalism” they will be laughed out of the room before someone has the opportunity to speak…
Tonight I engaged in something that I hope will become a normal occurrence in my life: sitting with friends, in a semi-formal environment, to share our time, and the foods that we have prepared. I know it has been said countless times before, but food that you make from scratch tastes so much better than its manufactured counterpart; physically, because the ingredients are better and handled with care, and mentally, because you know you have accomplished something by creating a dish.
I was invited to a dinner party and didn’t really know what to make. I wound up preparing a fairly simple artichoke dip from a recipe taken from “The Joy of Cooking.” The pleasure I received shredding the cheese, chopping the ingredients, staring at the dish bake in the oven, and watching my friends scarf it down was one I haven’t felt in quite some time.
The main course, again prepared by one of the dinner party guests, was as elegant as it was reserved, a variation of chicken with noodles. But by the time I attempted to eat the “White chocolate fruit tart,” prepared by the host, my senses had had enough. I’m not sure if it was the relaxed atmosphere or the fact that our taste buds had been rejuvenated from their dormant state by the foods we had eaten already but that dessert actually shut down my brain for an instant. [I am reminded of the misanthropic food critic at the end of Disney/Pixar's Ratatouillie when, after he tasted the rat's concoction, the audience is transported to the point in his childhood when he first recognized the power of good food.] I’m not saying it had quite that effect but it was close…
Add to the edible spread an evening, without television or other distractions, spent with friends, in a warm environment and you definitely have the recipe for happiness.
I challenge you to fix yourself a nice meal and take the time to savor the food. It does not have to be something slaved over for hours. Find a simple food that you enjoy eating and preparing, pair it with a nice (non-expensive) wine and simply relax… if only for a few hours. You won’t regret it.
First let me say that I have updated the “Movie Rankings” page of my site to reflect not only movies released in 2008 but also those that I saw for the first time in 2008, regardless of release year. I was seeing a lot of movies that didn’t fit the only category I had so I thought it was time to add a category.
Secondly, I drove to Louisville today to watch The Dark Knight as an IMAX experience. I was figuratively and literally blown away by the sound quality. I don’t think I have taken much notice to how good sound can get in a theatre and I think my hair was actually moved by the sound waves traveling through the room.
Other than the sound, I can’t really say the IMAX experience was any different than seeing it in a normal venue. My previous encounters with IMAX were in museums where the screen surrounded you and every shot was like you were on a roller coaster. Turns out that is something called an Omnimax, who knew there was a difference?… I didn’t. The picture was a little clearer and, again, the sound effects spectacular, but I don’t think it was worth the $9.75 and hour and a half trip. I actually just left more disappointed at the quality of local movie theaters. If I can see a movie like this and the screen isn’t really that bigger IMPROVE THE SOUND AT ALL THEATERS!
The movie was still wonderful and I think Heath Ledger’s performance actually got better, if that’s possible. See the movie if you haven’t but don’t worry about trying to experience it in IMAX.
Let me begin by saying I believe Bret Favre is the best football player to ever throw the pig skin and I bet history will look at him the same way; unless he messes up his legacy by making a fool of himself in the coming weeks.
I was sad when he announced his retirement in March. He seemed sad as well. He cried at his own press conference (who could blame him after he gave everything he could to the game he loved.) People questioned his motivations but he answered with “I don’t want to play anymore.” He knew he could, but he walked away.
Bret, no one said stepping down from the game you dominated for over a decade was going to be easy. Usually it takes players half a season at least to regret retirement, but you only took 3 months. The Packers have moved on and are trying to spend training camp allowing Aaron Rodgers the time he needs to lead his team. You are great but the NFL cannot wait around for you to make a solid decision.
Don’t let the next few weeks tarnish your passion for the game. You made the decision to go out on top, the good one in my opinion. But, if you want to come back, be straight forward and open with the media, the Packers, the rest of the NFL, and your fans. I’d love to see you come back but be a team player.
Today at 7:20pm local time, Barack Obama, the son of a Midwestern woman and a immigrant from Kenya, spoke to over 100,000 Berliners. He spoke “not as a presidential candidate, but a United States citizen.” I had heard rumors of Obama’s public speaking prowess but never, until today, experienced the emotional power and awe-inspiring charisma Barack Obama brings to the world stage. He gave Germany, and the world, a symbol of an American change. A symbol of hope, a symbol of intelligence, a symbol of economic, environmental, and foreign relations understanding.
I do not exaggerate when I say tonight’s speech brought tears to my eyes. I now look at this candidate, and the change America needs, as an immediate necessity. He did not bring new political ideas to the stage but he presented the ideas held by so many progressive Americans to the world, and they listened.
I will await the conservative backlash of tonight’s events but, without a doubt, this is the beginning of a new America, a new president, a new dream.
Terry Childs was arrested Sunday, and has been in jail on a 5 million dollar bond since, because he has taken control of the City of San Francisco’s computer network. Just like a John McClain action movie, an employee (the head computer tech for the city) changed the passwords to the servers controlling 70 percent of the city’s government online traffic. He was the only man with the codes! The apocalypse is approaching!
From prison, he asked to speak with the mayor of San Francisco himself. Once the mayor arrived Childs wrote the passwords down and slid them over to the him. The mayor took them back to Cisco Systems who were employed to break the codes to no avail and peace was restored to the city. Childs claims a fellow coworker had planted a virus into the system and he was merely trying to protect it. Either way, don’t tell Bruce Willis or they’ll try and have to top a cop car exploding into a moving helicopter (yes that happened in Die Hard With a Vengeance).
Today I started reading Marc Hauser’s book on the history and theories behind modern morality, Moral Minds. I have been on this kick recently (I just finished Can We Be Good Without God, for example). I want to know why we are the way we are and how much or little does it have to do with religion.
In one of the sections the author asks us to rank to situations on a disgusting scale (1 being normal and 10 being incredibly disgusting). The first first scenario involved a guy walking into a bathroom only to find his mom sitting there licking ice cream off the toilet seat and she turns up to you and says “do you want some.” Now, I thought that was a little weird but still funny and harmless so I gave that a 6. Interestingly enough, the author gave it a 6 as well.
The next story involved a brother and a sister. She is on the pill and he has had a vasectomy so there is no chance for a kid. They just engaged in a very sensual sex act and have confessed their love for each other. The author gave it an 8 and goes on to explain the history of the incest taboo in our culture. I was happy that the two of them had found love and knew there were no health questions with kids so I gave the situation a 3.
I guess the question is: am I in the complete minority here? Am I a weirdo? I can tell you I have no desire to have sex with my sister. I know we do not like incest in this culture, but I guess its hard to find love so why deny it if it’s there. I think father/daughter incest is a different issue and I don’t agree with that. Let me know what you all think. If I’m crazy, I’d like to know… haha, cheers.
The previews for 20th Century Fox’s new film Jumper seemed interesting enough. It conveyed the idea that some kid was capable of teleporting himself and there is some group, headed by Samuel L. Jackson (Get out of my movies!!!), trying to catch or kill the “jumpers.” Yes, that was the preview but that is about as far as the film itself goes as well. I appreciate Doug Liman’s work with the Bourne series and Mr. and Mrs. Smith but he might be reaching too far with this one.
The story goes absolutely no where and most assuredly raises more questions than it solves. We have no idea how David (Hayden Christensen) got his powers, how many people have them, or how they control them. We are not even offered reasons for the Paladins’ (bad guys) disgust with the jumpers or how they are so well funded and have those cool toys other than the fact that Jackson thinks “God should be the only one capable of being in all places at all times.”
Teleportation could be an interesting premise for a movie if handled properly and with the care that a super-human ability needs in order to be understood by us normal people. It is obvious the script was thrown together to showcase the special effects and exotic locals (both of which are pretty cool) but is moronic at best. Christensen still surprises me as an actor that can get work in Hollywood and if Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t stop taking every script thrown his way I am going to lose all respect I had for him from Pulp Fiction and A Time to Kill.
If you simply need to kill some time by all means jump around the world, otherwise don’t bother.
For all those questioning Barack Obama’s foreign policy creditability, and daring him to plan an overseas trip, you finally have it. Stunningly, and to the excitement of the Obama campaign, the new democratic Iraqi government is urging for the swift removal of US coalition troops (by the end of 2010,) basically summarizing Obama’s own war strategy.
It must be nice to have your first display of foreign policy be an agreement with the Prime Minister of a newly formed republic (instituted by the Bush White house). Both George W. and John McCain have stated publicly they would end our presence if the Iraqi government wished it, and now they have. Unfortunately, neither of them will agree now to a swift exodus.
McCain answered by explaining there will always be tension on the “Iraq/ Pakistan border.” Never mind the fact that Pakistan borders Afghanistan, not Iraq. So much for McCain’s undisputed foreign policy prowess… I guess he’ll just continue to fight by endorsing his new attack ad, blaming Obama for the high gas prices.
Seriousness is the perfect idea for a comic series shrouded by evil, darkness, and intense personalities. It is no coincidence they chose Batman’s lesser-known moniker as the title for what has become the renaissance of graphic novels and an immigration from kids’ movies based on 90s cartoon series. The Dark Knight amazingly personifies the heart of Batman, a human plagued by the choice between preserving order in chaotic Gotham or living as the rest of us do, as part of a family haunted by goons and thugs. Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of the DC comic reinforces the idea of real people fighting the real battle of good verses evil, even when we don’t know where that line is drawn.
For those fans of the more human Batman seen in Batman Begins, you will enjoy the elaboration of Christian Bale’s character in this installment. No longer do we have the jovial Caped Crusader of George Clooney; Bale shines as a man confronted by the desire for love in a world that needs him as a hero. No better is this dichotomy conveyed than with Wally Pfister’s cinematography. Ironically, the darkest scenes in the first half of the movie show Bruce Wayne gallivanting as Gotham’s playboy (in order to provide alibis for Batman’s actions) while the “Bat cave” is the brightest set in the picture. There is nothing hidden with the real Batman.
One of my favorite themes of this picture is how they explain some of the more improbable events: for example, a great sequence describing how exactly Bruce Wayne/ Batman can travel to Hong Kong and kidnap a CEO while staying within the constraints of the physical world. There are no over-the-top gadgets or superhuman abilities here, which makes it a believable character study, not a Joel Schumacher fantasy. There are bumps and bruises under that cape and a millionaire sacrificing his body to preserve a symbol of hope. Congratulations are in order for the production team deciding not to create a new bat mobile and again creating a believable back-story for the car and his more elastic suit. The motor-cycle-as-ejector-seat is an ingenious addition to Batman’s repertoire as well.
The villains of The Dark Knight are arguably the deepest and most interesting characters in the film. I will admit I was upset to hear they were reviving the Joker for this film. There was no Joker other than Jack Nicholson… until Heath Ledger. From the very first scene we see a mad genius confusing, intimidating, out-smarting, and playing games on his victims. Ledger delivers a brilliant performance, stealing every scene of which he’s a part. Much like Bale’s Batman, Ledger’s Joker leaves the comics and becomes more real, more human. His intelligent dialogue and brilliant body control create a persona who uses our own fears against us. While he admits to never having a plan, we see he is the smartest villain seen on screen in some time. His clever (and completely false) stories of how he got his scars on his face provide a horrific comic relief and insight into the lunacy of Ledger’s character (a character who dresses like a female nurse to talk to Two-Face, holding true to the true DC character). I was hesitant, but this will go down as one of the greatest comic book movie performances of all time.
The story does seem to go on for some time, becoming a five-act epic (which is better than a simple script to showcase special effects.) The pacing is perfect with just the right amount of character development and action sequences, all photographed more artistically than the average action movie. The ending had the opportunity to become heavy handed but Nolan’s sensitivity provides more of a social critique than stereotypical conclusion. The subtlety of all supplemental characters (Freeman, Oldman, Caine, Eckhart, and Gyllenhaal) provide the perfect support and battleground for Bale and Ledger to compete. Traditional Batman worshipers will appreciate the darker interpretation, average fans will enjoy the wonderful performances, and everyone will talking about how The Dark Knight has raised the bar for action movies for years to come.
Tonight I engaged in something that I hope will become a normal occurrence in my life: sitting with friends, in a semi-formal environment, to share our time, and the foods that we have prepared. I know it has been said countless times before, but food that you make from scratch tastes so much better than its manufactured counterpart; physically, because the ingredients are better and handled with care, and mentally, because you know you have accomplished something by creating a dish.
First let me say that I have updated the “Movie Rankings” page of my site to reflect not only movies released in 2008 but also those that I saw for the first time in 2008, regardless of release year. I was seeing a lot of movies that didn’t fit the only category I had so I thought it was time to add a category.
Let me begin by saying I believe Bret Favre is the best football player to ever throw the pig skin and I bet history will look at him the same way; unless he messes up his legacy by making a fool of himself in the coming weeks.
Today at 7:20pm local time, Barack Obama, the son of a Midwestern woman and a immigrant from Kenya, spoke to over 100,000 Berliners. He spoke “not as a presidential candidate, but a United States citizen.” I had heard rumors of Obama’s public speaking prowess but never, until today, experienced the emotional power and awe-inspiring charisma Barack Obama brings to the world stage. He gave Germany, and the world, a symbol of an American change. A symbol of hope, a symbol of intelligence, a symbol of economic, environmental, and foreign relations understanding.
Terry Childs was arrested Sunday, and has been in jail on a 5 million dollar bond since, because he has taken control of the City of San Francisco’s computer network. Just like a John McClain action movie, an employee (the head computer tech for the city) changed the passwords to the servers controlling 70 percent of the city’s government online traffic. He was the only man with the codes! The apocalypse is approaching!
Today I started reading Marc Hauser’s book on the history and theories behind modern morality, Moral Minds. I have been on this kick recently (I just finished Can We Be Good Without God, for example). I want to know why we are the way we are and how much or little does it have to do with religion.
The previews for 20th Century Fox’s new film Jumper seemed interesting enough. It conveyed the idea that some kid was capable of teleporting himself and there is some group, headed by Samuel L. Jackson (Get out of my movies!!!), trying to catch or kill the “jumpers.” Yes, that was the preview but that is about as far as the film itself goes as well. I appreciate Doug Liman’s work with the Bourne series and Mr. and Mrs. Smith but he might be reaching too far with this one.
For all those questioning Barack Obama’s foreign policy creditability, and daring him to plan an overseas trip, you finally have it. Stunningly, and to the excitement of the Obama campaign, the new democratic Iraqi government is urging for the swift removal of US coalition troops (by the end of 2010,) basically summarizing Obama’s own war strategy.
